Walden Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Related to Social Change Discussion

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is one of the most recently developed approaches under the CBT umbrella. Stephen Hayes, who developed ACT in the 1980s, was trained in traditional CBT. On the surface, ACT would appear to agree with the basic premise of the “it is what it is” statement from this week’s introduction. This approach is not only about acceptance, however, but also commitment, which in this context refers to the commitment to change behavior.

ACT focuses on values and psychological flexibility. It uses mindfulness to bring clients into the present moment in order to nonjudgmentally examine thoughts and emotions. Rather than looking at what happened in the past or might happen in the future, ACT focuses on the present. After this acceptance, an ACT therapist would attempt to move clients in the direction of their values through a series of questions, such as: “What are the things that you really value? What would you like to see written on your tombstone?” By examining what clients would like to be different in their lives, they can begin to change behaviors that do not fit into their value system or worldview.

Steven Hayes believes that social change can come from a person who is acting from his or her value system, and that in this way, ACT is related to social change. For this Discussion, you examine the basic tenets and strategies of ACT and take a position on Hayes’s social change argument. Can a therapeutic approach based on acceptance of thoughts—rather than changing them—be a catalyst for behaviors and actions that lead to social change?

Required ReadingsArch, J. J., Eifert, G. H., Davies, C., Plumb Vilardaga, J. C., Rose, R. D., & Craske, M. G. (2012). Randomized clinical trial of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) versus acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for mixed anxiety disorders.

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80(5), 750–765. doi:10.1037/a0028310 Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.Cullen C. (2008). Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): A third wave behavior therapy. Behavioural and Cognitive Therapy, 36, 667–673. doi:10.1017/S1352465808004797 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): A ThirdWave Behaviour Therapy by Cullen, C., in Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, Vol. 36/Issue 6. Copyright 2008 by Cambridge University Press – US – Journals. Reprinted by permission of Cambridge University Press – US – Journals via the Copyright Clearance Center. Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.Cully, J. A., & Teten, A. L. (2008). A therapist’s guide to brief cognitive behavioral therapy. Retrieved from http://www.mirecc.va.gov/visn16/docs/therapists_gu…

p. 28–43Fruzzetti, A. E., & Erikson, K. R. (2010). Mindfulness and acceptance interventions in cognitive-behavioral therapy. In K .S. Dobson (Ed.), Handbook of cognitive behavioral therapies (3rd ed.) (pp. 358–360). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Ruiz, F. J. (2012). Acceptance and commitment therapy versus traditional cognitive behavioral therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of current empirical evidence. International Journal of Psychology & Psychological Therapy, 12(3), 333–357. Retrieved from the PsycINFO database (Accession No. 2012-27684-002). Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.Psychotherapy.net. (n.d.). Embracing your demons: An overview of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Retrieved September 28, 2016, from http://www.psychotherapy.net/article/Acceptance-an…Documents: Course Project Overview (PDF document)Required MediaBig Think. (Producer). (2012). Big Think interview with Steven Hayes [Video file]. Retrieved September 28, 2016, from Note: This video is approximately 38 minutesOptional ResourcesHowells, K. (2010). The “third wave” of cognitive-behavioral therapy and forensic practice. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 20, 251–300. doi:10.1002/cbmSpringer, J. M. (2012). Acceptance and commitment therapy: Part of the “third wave” in the behavioral tradition. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 34(3), 205–212. doi:10.1080/14639947.2011.564824

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource

 https://youtu.be/O-Ith3X1x9k